Mushtaq rates `world-class` Ashwin above Nathan Lyon

February 28, 2016, 1:13 PM IST

New Zealand's coach Andy Moles (L) chats with the former Pakistan offspinner Saqlain Mushtaq during a practice session at the Colts ground in Colombo August 8, 2009. New Zealand will play two test matches against Sri Lanka ahead of a one-day international tri-series with India. REUTERS/Stringer (SRI LANKA SPORT CRICKET) - RTR26IH4

Melbourne, : Pakistan spin legend Saqlain Mushtaq has described Ravichandran Ashwin as a ‘world-class bowler’, insisting that the Indian premier spinner is way ahead of his contemporaries like Nathan Lyon of Australia and England’s Moeen Ali.

Ashwin, who has taken a staggering 176 wickets at an average of 25.39 in his 32 Tests, has established himself as India’s spin spearhead lately.

Mushtaq, who revolutionised the art of finger spin by developing the ‘doosra’ in the 1990s, observed that Ashwin has proved his talent at Test level while the other two still need to do a bit more in the longer format of the game.

The former Pakistan spinner said that Ashwin was bowling superbly at the moment and that he has skills to trouble batsmen in both subcontinent as well as overseas conditions, news.com.au reported.

Meanwhile, Ashwin’s average has climbed to 36.66 in Tests while playing away from home.

But, Mushtaq believes that it was natural to see the performance graph of a player go down slightly when playing in varying overseas conditions of England and Australia. (ANI)